President Donald Trump might be acquitted on both articles of impeachment as early as February 5 after the Republican-controlled Senate on Friday voted 51-49 to defeat the motion to compel the appearance of witnesses and the presentation of evidence.
The vote, which dashed Democrat's hopes of prolonging the trial in the effort to oust Trump, means Trump might be acquitted as early as the wee morning hours of Saturday. The vote could also delayed until Monday, according to sources in both parties. In either event, Friday's vote all but means the Senate trial is over and that Trump will remain as president despite an unending wave of scandals and criminal acts plaguing him and his administration.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called the vote "a perfidy, it's a grand tragedy, one of the worst tragedies that the Senate has ever overcome."
CNN said senators late Friday evening were still meeting to discuss where to go from here. It's not sure exactly when the Senate will make a final vote on the articles of impeachment against Trump, however. Democrats want a vote on February 5 while Republicans want it immediately.
Two Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Mitt Romney of Utah, broke with their party to join Democrats in voting to admit additional evidence. Two other GOP senators who earlier seemed to see it the same way, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, changed their minds to join the 49 other Republicans voting against the motion.
Democrats had needed at least four Republican senators to vote with them in order to get the Senate to call witnesses. In particular, Democrats wanted to hear the bombshell testimony of former national security adviser John Bolton. This demand came after a bombshell exposé Sunday by Bolton who asserted Trump told him to order the continued withholding military aid to Ukraine until that country helped with investigations into Joe Biden Trump demanded.
The revelation was made by The New York Times in a story based on an unpublished draft manuscript of Bolton's upcoming book it had obtained. The book, "The Room Where It Happened; A White House Memoir," will be released March 17.
The most damning parts of Bolton's book are portions saying Trump told Bolton during a conversation in August 2018 to withhold congressionally-approved military aid for Ukraine until Ukrainian officials led by president Volodymyr Zelensky helped with the Biden investigation Trump kept demanding.
Biden's book directly tied the release of U.S. military aid amounting to $390 million to Ukraine investigating Biden and his son, Hunter to help Trump's reelection campaign. Bolton's explosive revelation completely repudiates a central theme of Trump's defense repeated there was no quid pro quo between Trump and Zelensky.
Bolton also directly implicated other Trump supporters such as acting White House chief-of-staff Mick Mulvaney and state department secretary Mike Pompeo in the Ukraine scandal.
